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s E n m: o isr 



NON-ESSENSIiLISl AND THE WAR, 



S.E-V-. -v^- ^^- 3vioo:k.e;- 



** a^HKMlE DISCUSSED : 

Tiie Non-E3.entiaUsm of the American Cliurch the Cause of our present National 

Calamity. 



CHICAGO: 

J. yr. DEAN. BOOK AND JOB PRINTEK. 94 DBARBORN 8TRBBT. 

1863. 



.3 

'Mg3 



West. Res. Htofc. Boo. 



-^ 554 ii: T^ jm: o IV 



lOI-ESSENTIALISM AND THE ¥AR, 



"Behold how great a matter a littj.e fire kindleth." 

James iii : 5. 

High perched in the scale of thought is this apothegm : Mighty 
remits follow from small beginnings. The principle, when apj^lied 
to matter, takes on its sublimity knd grandeur : the grains of sand 
and drops of water suddenly mature before the eye into revolving 
planets and rolling oceans. When applied to vice, it takes on the 
dark drapery of woe : tippling and petty theft, with the lapse of 
time, culminate in all the horrors of the drunkard's death and the 
felon's cell. When applied to religious ti-uth, it takes on the un- 
stained garb of loyjilty : strict obedience in small things, with the 
lapse of time, ends in a perfect embodiment of truth and an eternal 
weight of glory. When applied to error, it takes on the satanic 
garb of treason: the slight departure from the edicts of a king, with 
the lapse of time, culminates in all the horrors of war and anl'rchy. 
"Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." 

Subject of discussion.— The Non-essentialism of the American 
Church a prolific source of our present national calamity. 

In elucidating this we will define Non-essentialism, show its nature 
and expose its practical workings. 

I. We are to define Non-essentidlism. This we may not be able 
to do, to meet satisfactorily the views of all ; for, evidently, some 
mean indefinitely more or less in the use of the term than others. 
But, as we are not in search of the degree to which either a good or 
a bad thing may be carried, this places no obstacle in our way. It 
is the real princi2')le involved in the %cord itself for which we search, 
and that belongs in this part of our discussion. This principle we 
shall define to be, the assumed liberty of departing from the written 



Word of God. Or, in other words, that God has given to men 
discretionary/ power, or right to change His edicts, and substitute 
for them what thei/ may judge or conjecture to be their spirit. Or, 
still further, by the sa,me principle, that men have a right to modify 
and change the written edicts of the King in Zion to so comport 
with the convenience and wishes of men as to prevent all discord 
and secure harmony upon their own plan ; that is, a harmony in 
which every one does as he pleases, and in which no two really be- 
lieve and practice alike. 

Xow, radicalism is directly the opposite of all this. It is adhere- 
ing strictly to the decree of the King as delivered. Radicalism, 
then, means right, truth, fidelity and loyalty. Non-essentialism is 
compromise, expediency, selfishness and treason. Radicalism and 
conservatism are the same in politics as radicalism and non-essen- 
tialism are in religion. Says an able political writer, "Radicalism 
in American politics means truth, courage, right, freedom, progress 
and reform ; while conservatism means cowardice, compromise, ex- 
pediency, deception and retrogression." 

Lest we be thought too mild in our definition of the word, allow 
us to say, that in respect to its nature the same state of heart that 
would add to, or take from, or modify, the Word of God, would 
only need an increase in degree to take God from His throne. For 
it is an undeniable truth, that wrong doing in what is called small 
things, is prospectively wrong doing in large things. Indeed all 
rebellion is but to level our artillery at the throne and the power that 
reigns. A single torch applied to our prairie grass is, prospectively, 
one mighty flame, sweeping the whole section and lighting up the 
whole heavens. Yea, a single spark thrown into a magazine is, 
prospectively, the destruction of a whole fort and the death of 
thousands. So a penny theft fostered in childhood may ripen into 
highway robbery and wholesale pluiuler. 

II. The nature of non-essentialism. 
• This will appear in its true character and m.ake its due impression 
if we observe, 

1. That it reflects uj)on t\\Q wisdom of God. When men assume, 
for sectarian purposes, or any other cause, that any part of the laws, 
and rules, and regulations of the church, or, indeed, any pari of the 
entire Bil)le, spoken by the King in Zion is non-csseutial, he prac- 
tically reflects upon the wisdom of God. In fact, he charges God 
with making unwise anO utxnecessary demands upon His subjects ; 



and, that He did not see as far into the necessities of the mysterious 
future as some of His knowing subjects. 

2. It also reflects upon the goodness of God. Man, regarding 
the edict of heaven non-essential in its mode, or form, or order of 
observance, changes it for his greater convenience and comfort. 
Now, assuming that this changed mode, form, or order is right, and 
will answer all the ends of Christianity, just as well as the more 
cross-bearing, uncomfortable and stringent one, proclaimed by the 
Head of the Church, it is clear that God was wanting, either in 
xcisdom, to know what would be for the greatest benefit to His church, 
or deficient in goodness, to do it. 

3. It, moreover, reflects upon the authority of God. All liber- 
ties taken with the edicts of a King undeniably question his right 
to reign. And whether we literally set aside a positive decree, or 
modify and change it, the nature of the action is the same. 
Though a smaller tire in the beginning, it is of no less result in its 
tendency and endings. And as non-essentialism questions God's 
authority to reign as He decrees, so it need not be changed in nature, 
but progress in degree, to question His authority to reign at all. A 
very small fire "in the rear"' in God's empire, if suflered to effect 
its natural result, will produce universal anarchy and burn down 
His throne. 

This principle cannot be overlooked. Go to the head of 
the mighty Mississippi. Is not that little rill, rising from 
an obscure spring, of the same genus as that vast river which pours 
its massive and resistless current into the ocean ? Is not the m^n 
who steals a penny on the same stream, though not far advance<J 
as the pirate or the highway robber ? And is not the man whoi 
changes or modifies a single portion of God's truth, on the same 
stream, though not so far advanced, as the skeptic or the atheist? 

Neither would it lessen, but heighten, the wrong, even if the 
modification related to what was not essential to salvation ; for this 
would make the act of a deeper dye in unmitigated selfishness. 
What could develop a deeper seated depravity than for your 
son to reply to your command, "If my disobedience will not 
disinherit me, I answer. No ! I will disobey when I can with ira-- 
punity, and only obey in self-defense." Now, will any man fail to 
see that I cannot be trulg loyal to any government while I possess 
this spirit, and while I claim the right and necessity of changing its 
laws, and rules and regulations, to better suit my fancy, or s^ltishr 



ness ? In fact, do I not virtually set aside the powers that be, and 
assume the reins myself? And do I not expose my treason still 
more, when I say, by way of argument. It is the LorcVs table' it is 
the govermnenC s constitution; it is my neighhor''s property; there- 
fore let all do as they please.'''' 

III. And here toe ic ill consider the practical xoorkings of the non- 
essential theory. 

1. It destroys the real idea of loyalty. No man claiming the 
right to change the edicts of a King can be really loyal ; for his 
acts evince distrust in his ability and superiority to dictate. 

But there is another element at work on this continent, and 
probably always will be. It commenced in the early colonies upon 
the eastern seaboard, and though in the minority, it has worked not 
altogether in vain. Not all of the American Church has been 
taught in the school of non-essentialism, or graduated at 
the college of conservatism. There have been some radicals 
all along the line of our history, who have believed and 
taught that the King in Zion should be actually obeyed ; and that 
when he said, " Be buried with Christ in baptism," he did not mean 
" Be sprinkled ;"" and when he said, " Repent and be baptized," he 
did not mean sprinkle unconscious infants, and thus compromise the 
edicts of Jehovah, and open the flood-gates of error to deluge the 
Avorld, This element has done much to retard the American 
Churcli in her undue liberty with the word of God, and lo prevent 
our national evil ; but the preponderan<;e has been too great, and 

]) calamity is upon us. 

For long and tedious years a portion of the church of Ood, not 
daring to compromise the edicts of Jehovah, has by lier example 
held as with a martyr's grasp the more numerous part of our Amer- 
ican Zion from taking still greater liberties with radical truth. This 
-conscientious and salutary wt)rk to jirevent the coming evil slie has 
■done under the ungrateful and reproachful epithets of " Ironsides," 
*' Bigots," " Ilui-dshells," and "Close Communionists" — circum- 
«tances tlio most hum Hating and trying to patience. 

During this long and unecpial contest between radical trutli and 
noU'Cssentialism the world, unconscious of the great fire a little 
matter kindleth, has clamorously called for a free religion and a 
free and libei-al churcli, and has turned with scorn from the strug- 
gling few who were conscientiously toiling to maintain the oidv 
jirinciplc that could save the church and tlu' country from ruin, and 



with a profuse liberality poured out its wealth to extend, and 
strengthen, and aggrandize the destructive policy of religious con- 
servatism. 

But the time has now come in which the world, astonished and 
awakened by the clash of arms, the roar of cannon, and the surging 
of mighty armies, as the legitimate result of unlawful departures 
froin radical truth, can see with a brighter and stronger vision. 
Thousands of our American people who but recently were blind in 
tbis grave particular, can now see, that the conservative principle 
in the American church and in American politics, is to this nation just 
the outer circle of the mighty maelstrom is to the proud and noble ves- 
sel floating upon the coast of Norway : the farther she goes the loAver 
she sinks in the circling waters, first slowly and imperceptibly, but 
anon more and more rapidly until, Avith a few mighty struggles, she 
disappears. But as liglit is shed abroad, and actual truth and radi- 
cal principles are practically demonstrated by fiery ordeals, there is 
a bare hope that this American people may yet awake to the right 
and escape final ruin. We can but believe that God intends to 
honor His heaven-born principle of radical truth, and place the broad 
seal of His approbation upon its long.despised adherents. 

If the sword, with all the horrors of war, will force us back, as a 
nation, to genuine loyalty, it may show the American Church the 
folly and madness of her departure from the constitution of 
Heaven and, in due time, make her the light of the world. And 
wlien she becomes truly loyal to the God of Heaven and teaches 
the woild that implicit obedience is the only test of loyalty, she will 
emphatically commence her high mission to this apostate world. 
She will become a beacon light, high on the point of danger, to 
safely guide our noble ship of State with her priceless cargo. 

2. Non-essentialisra has eftectually educated the nation for the 
state in which we now are. And the quickness with which the 
virus of treason has diftused itself throughout the body politic shows 
the enormity of the evil itself Even the third generation of this 
continent, taught in the family at chihlhood, in the Sabbath School 
at a riper age, and in the church at manhood non-escentialism', — that 
a drop is as good as a fountain : — that God did not mean just what 
he said, or if He did, we have a right to change or modify His com- 
mands to suit our convenience and comfort, all which has now 
ripened into revolution. 

Where but in the Ameiican Church does the errorist find his 



greatest authority for wresting, and turning, and explaining away 
tlie force of God's truth? He reasons with irresistible logic when 
he says, if the word "baptize" means to sprinkle, surely the word 
"everlasting" can only mean a Umiled period; if '■'■believe and be 
baptized," means, also, be baptized and then believe, surely the 
gospel that does not save all men, as we move to the grave, will 
commence its work again in hell, and work hack this way until it is 
done; if the order of repentance, baptism and communion, as laid 
down in the 2nd of Acts, by the King in Zion, can be broken uj), 
why not break up the order of the last judgment, and the eternal 
destruction of the wicked. At this point says the Deist, who is 3 
little farther advanced, if the American Church is right in her non- 
esse?itialism, then, of course, my Annihilationist and Universalist 
friends are right in following her example, to support their theoiies; 
and if all are right, there can be no truth at all in the Bible, and I 
abjure the whole. One more stej) not only denounces all Chrisiian- 
ity, but, as in France, declares there is no God, and that death is aw 
eternal sleep. And, as in France, let this become general, and we 
are in the horrors of revolution, to deluge the world with blood. In 
France alone, as the bloody harvest of church departures from radi- 
cal truth, the entire nation lost all confidence in revealed religion, 
and became infidel; and the same conservative element, controlling 
and ruling the people, destroyed the balance of civil power, and 
three millions perished in the memorable struggle of revolution. 
Oh, my God ! is the non-essentialism of the Auunican Church to 
thus baptize this land in blood ! 

The lawyers and Judr/es and rulers of the fii'st generation of this 
nation were taught by the church, when children, to deviate fi-oui the 
right, — to take liberties with God's Word, — 'and compromise it to 
suit themselves and others; and thus, at a tender age, they im- 
bibed the spirit of treason, which grew Avith their groAvth, and 
strengthened with their strength. They commenced and ended 
their public career being thus taught, and they left their mark. 
The next generation, taught in the same manner, took their places, 
and before they left the field, we had so far advanced in the high- 
way of ruin, that not a few saw the gathering storm, and felt the 
noble ship of State reel and rock beneath their feet. And the pres- 
ent generation, taught in the same manner, took their places, and 
wh:il do we behold but blood and carnage I 

Nolliing has been more apparent in Americau politics for the last 



9 

forty years than the compromise of real truth and justice, for the 
growth and strength of error and injustice : departure from the 
right, and sympathy Avith the wrong. The weakness and inefiicien(;y 
of our courts of civil jurisprudence ; the enormous power, growth 
and unexpected extension of slavery; the fearful and wide- 
spread spirit of insubordination and disloyalty, and the unparalleled 
increase of crime, of slander, of perjury, of murder and disrespect 
for law, are all the legitimate oftspring of conservatism, which was 
bred and born in the American Church. And to-day, that part of the 
American Church which, in the language of Calvin, claims the right 
to change God's order somewhat, is held responsible at the High 
Tribunal for the fearful calamity that is now upon us ; and how can 
we expect peace until she repents and turns to genuine loyalty '? 

Surely, no man looking upon American affairs from our present 
advantageous stand-point can fail to see where our great Aveakness 
lies. Our free government and free institutions, though justly the 
pride and honor of our nation, have been most grossly and absurdly 
abused. We have, in fact, overlooked, or lost sight of, the real 
boundary line of freedom, and to an alarming extent made free with 
the prerogatives of both God and man. So thoroughly imbued is 
this nation with the spirit of conservatism, legitimately inherited 
from the American Church, that we ai'e incapable of any just and 
harmonious a2)preciation or application of law. Even the con- 
duct of government contractors, and officers, and generals, as black 
as ever darkened the catalogue of crime among men, on investiga- 
tion, is followed by but little else than temporary suspension, with 
the reward of salary continued. And it is with trembling heart, 
well-nigh bordering on despair, that we look for any great, noble, 
decisive and statesmanlike measures from the present generation, 
that will honorably close this vexatious war, crush as with an iron 
hand the most wicked and unprovoked rebellion that ever afflicted 
the race of man, and lay deep and broad the true foundation for 
future peace and national prosperity. 

True, there are many noble radicals in this nation, struggling at 
the present hour with a god-like energy to save the body politic ; 
but when the accursed disease of non-essentialism has poisoned the 
whole body, and sent its virus of treason through all the arterial 
system, what can the mere palsied limbs accomplish. The great 
and alarming war of this country, the final result of which is to 
affect for good or evil every nation upon the globe for all coming 



10 

time, is not in the clash of arms upon the battle-lieki, but ii mighty 
struggle between treacherous conservatism and radical truth. 

Conservatism, bred and born in the American Church, and inher- 
ited by the great mass of our lawyers, and judges, and officersj, and 
rulers, has borne unlimited sway i . American affairs until scarce a 
star or stripe of our national glory can be seen. Alarmed at the 
fearful rapidity with which our noble ship of State is drifting toward 
the breakers, thousands are falling back upon radical truth, and 
a radical policy as the only salvation of the country. v\nd as this 
contest is decided, so will be the destiny of the nation. If conserv- 
atism triumphs, republican government and republican institutions 
perish. Conservatism in its beginnings, and for a long time, if its 
growth is not too rapid, will adjust and harmonize mattei's of dif- 
ference with but little alarming effect upon equal justice; but when 
this policy has been carried out, and culminated in its national results, 
the continued application of the same principle to remedy existing 
and accumulating evils will only increase and aggravate them. Con- 
servatism in this nation has had its full play, spent its full force, and 
accomplished its full and natural results; and hence the application 
of this principle, the very cause of our trouble, to mannge and har- 
monize the affairs of this nation at the present hour, is but adding 
fuel to the fire. 

Practical conservatism, whether in the church or the nation, is 
compromise, expediency, deception and fraud. Radicalism is truth, 
justice and equal rights. These two theories are n-iw at war upon 
this continent, and all the struggle of armies in deadly conflict, and 
all the slain upon the battle-field, and all the wasted fortunes and 
desolate homes, north and south, are but the distant and distinct 
effects of this elementary war between conservatism and radical 
truth, liberty and oppression, which lie deep buried in the bosom of 
this nation. And be assured, this elementary war will never cease, 
nor the roaring cannon and clash of arms be permanently hushed, 
until backward on the line of our history Ave search with an iinj)ar- 
tial eye for the real cause of our great national evil ; and find and 
destroy the hot-bed on which its first seeds were warmed into life. 

Now, the cliurch, though not a civil or worldly organization, is 
nevertheless God's representative of justice, equality and loyalty. 
Then let her embrace as liiiidaiiieiital, imstained loyalty to the King 
Eternal and yield uncomi)i(iniising and unconditional obedience to 
His commands ; discard, as with a martyr's spirit, any compromise of 



11 

God's truth ; and incorporate these very elements, by precept and 
example, in the rising generation, and our noble ship of State will 
have a mighty sheet-anchor equal to any storm. The majesty of 
law will peer upward in its own native glory, perched high on its 
own eternal throne, awe the rebellious, and perpetuate peace, har- 
mony and equal rights. The youth, impressed at the family altar, 
in the Sabbath School, and in the church, with the mighty thought 
that God reigns supreme in the universe, and must be obeyed, as 
the only condition of order and safety, will, when ripened into age, 
have convictions and capabilities equal to any occasion. It wUl be 
a part of his very being, to know that any departure from radical 
truth tends so far toward confusion and anarchy ; and every prin- 
ciple of his matured nature will instinctively recoil from the 
slightest liberties taken with the powers that be. He will know that 
when the subjects oi a kingdom claim discretionary power to change 
or modify the edicts of the King, the spirit of treason works in the 
same ratio, and that the key-stone of the governmental arch is 
already started from its place. Yea, the gathering cloud, though 
not larger than a man's hand, seen far off in the national heavens, 
rapidly swells and thickens until not a star is seen. Lightnings 
sweep athwart the heavens, and muttering thunders shake the mass- 
ive structure — the foundation trembles — the walls reel to and fro, 
and become a pile of ruins. 

" Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." When Eve 
plucked the forbidden fruit, little did she know the accumulating 
result. She saw not the sweeping deluge — the burning Sodom — the 
sinking Nineveh — the scattered Jews — and this beautiful world 
once allied to heaven, converted by her single act, into one vast 
charnel house, and the theatre of war, of carnage, of lamentation 
and woe. She saw not that by a single act she tapped the river of 
death, that has, with the lapse of six thousand years, grown wider 
and deeper as it has poured its millions into the gulf of hell. 

When Luther broke away from the Romish Church and estab- 
lised one upon the ground of faith in Christ, he felt he had built 
upon a rock. But little did he think, at that time, that the single 
seed of infant baptism, — this slight departure from God's law, 
Avould in a short time undermine all vital piety, unite church and 
State, and sink all Germany into a condition more hopeless than the 
Hindoos ; that those very infants, so called dedicated to God in 
baptism, and taught the right of discretionary power in the govern- 



12 

ment of God from their childhood, would eventually become their 
milers and senators in Harabui'g, and convert the church, otherwise 
pure, into a worldly institution. Indeed, little did he think that from 
this slight deviation from God's rule, all Germany would become 
missionary ground, and so opposed to a genuine gospel as to contiscate 
the property and imprison the missionaries of the Cross. 

O, how long before the American Church will learn that as drops 
of water make a mighty ocean, so small sins culminate in the most 
fearful consequences. A mind Avrongly taught in childhood acts 
wrongly in manhood and dangerously rules in authority. " When 
the wicked bear rule the people mourn." 

Thus coming up step by step from the past, we are all able to trace 
an unbroken chain of causes and eifects which have culminated in 
our present evils. And viewing the state of the American Church 
in her relation to the body politic from our present stand-point, we 
may confidently affirm that all coming history of this nation will 
exclaim, "How gi*eat a matter a little fire kindleth." And how 
great the folly of making that which is avowed to be 07ily non- 
essential the cause of such wide-spread desolation and woe. It not 
only breaks up the communion of saints at the Lord's table, dis- 
tracts and paralyzes the energies of the church in her commission 
to win souls to Christ, — spends unnecessarily millions of dollars to 
erect houses of Avorship, and employs the time and talents of the 
ablest gifts to cover its absurdity ; but by wrongly training the 
rising generation in the school of treason, fills the land Avith lamen. 
tation and mourning. If the items, then, that give form and dis. 
tinctive existence to a portion of the American Church, are as 
affirmed, merely non-essential., in the name of God and bleeding 
humanity, why not give them up, and return to radical truth ? Why 
not educate the next generation, not only for united and efficient 
Christian action to save the souls of men, but for unstained loyalty* 

Were I to ask a large portion of the American Church to-day 
what divides God's children at the communion table, they must 
answer, Non-essentialism. 

What has filled the world with books to justify a departure from 
the written Word of God, — broken up revivals by the cry of bigotry 
and close communion, — built five houses of wor!<hip, and employed 
many ministers Avhere only one was needed, — robbed the Heatlien 
Avorld of four-fifths of the missionaries of the Cross with api)ro]niate 
fcialaries to spread the light of the glorious Gospel? Non-esseudalibni. 



13 

And what has destroyed the zeal for God's truth, and driven the 
life and power of Godliness from the heart of even a portion of the 
professedly radical church and ministry, — made them almost 
ashamed of their distinctive sentiment, that the Bible as it is, is the 
only rule for Protestants — plunged them into the dark and turbid 
current of popular favor — shorn them of their moral power with 
both God and man, and closed their hearts and sanctuaries against 
the salvation of souls? Nbn-essentialism. 

What has educated our lawyers, and judges, and statesmen in the 
schemes, and compromises, and departures from radical truth, that 
have convulsed the nation with civil war; and caused every timber 
in our noble ship of State to groan ? What has protracted and 
aggravated our present war and emboldened our officers and 
generals in treachery, inefficiency, and fraud ? What has led our 
government contractors, and operators to hope for impunity in their 
high-handed villainy and dishonesty ? JVb7i-esse7itialism. 

What has so corrupted our courts of justice and invalidated the tes- 
timony of witnesses, that in many instances, the better part of every 
community sooner relinquish their just claims and submit to the 
most base slander, rather than seek redress by law? What has 
created among our American people a greater sympathy for even 
the murderer than for law and order, and thus multiplied a hundred- 
fold the shedding of innocent blood to save the guilty ? Nbn- 
essentialism. 

What has led men to so interpret the Scriptures, and explain the 
practice of ancient servitude as to sanction American slavery by the 
Bible? What in this day of our great peril makes our nation — un- 
equaled in intelligence, in skill, in resources, and in actual strength — 
the weakest of all nations ? N'on-essentialism — the accursed, treach- 
erous principle of conservatism — the rill which swells into the river 
of death. 

And now, should this fearful, withering scourge of war terminate 
in any form, or compromise, leaving the conservative principle 
dominant in the political policy of this country, and the controlling 
element in the American Chui'ch, the peace secured would only be 
that of the lulled ocean, while in sight is the coming tempest. 

The cause must be removed, as the only ground of permanent 
peace and national prosperity. The Zion of God must repent and 
return to actual loyalty to the King of Heaven, or there can be no 
true and genuine loyalty to any government upon earth. 



14 

While human depravity is so supremely selfish and dictatorial as 
to compromise the truth of the King in Zion, and change or modify 
the principles of ITis government, to better suit themselves and ac- 
comodate others, how can we expect a more innocent display of 
native depravity in respect to human government? 

And if a departure from the laws and rules of the Divine govern- 
ment tend to anarchy and confusion, the same course of conduct 
will produce like results in a human government. 

Now, conservatism, as it is practically defined in American politics, 
and the sense in which we use it, sets aside radical truth as a stand- 
ard, and introduces expedients and compromises. This practice in 
the American Church has made our nation a heterogeneous mass of 
self-contradictory and suicidal elements. 

Radical truth is to all branches of society, civil or religious, just 
what an established rule is to a mechanical art. Compromise, then, 
for instance, the rule of feet and inches, and what building could be 
fitly framed together ? Yea, the moment you compromise the rule 
of feet and inches, and of weights and measures, you reduce 
the arts and sciences to a perfect jargon, and the biisiness world to 
intolerable confusion; and thus graphically illustrate the present 
state of our country, as elFected by the compromise of radical truth. 
And yet, there are not a few who, as base traitors to their country, 
or seized with more than judicial blindness, and knowing not what 
they do, ai*e at this awful moment of national confusion and peril 
clamorously calling for a more conservative administration to save 
the country from ruin. 

As well might the rule of feet and inches, of weights and 
measures, be further changed to produce order and system in the 
mechanical, scientific and business world. 

Compromise always injures one or the other party, and often both ; 
consequently, tends to create an evil it has no poAver to remedy. 
Radicalism deals justly and equitably by all parties ; consequently 
creates no evils to remedy. Radical truth, then, must be the great 
sheet-anchor of any government, human or divine. It should be 
held up as the only beacon light to guide our ship of State through 
the present storm. 

And yet, forming a concise view of the American question, as it 
appears to the impartial mind, it is to be feared that we as a nation 
are already so demoralized by conservatism, and weakened an<l dis- 
tracted by its treacherous iufiueuce in all the oflicial departments 



15 

of the government, that an aggressive war upon the insurgents will 
only result in disgrace and the useless sacrifice of human life, and 
national fortune. With a united radical policy, which only is ad- 
missible and successful in time of war, we might crush the unholy 
rebellion and restore honorable peace to our distracted country as 
rapidly as our armies could march over the Southern soil. 

But with two years' sad experience in political figuring, military 
treason, and government frauds, we have learned to our sorrow that 
division is weakness and disgrace. Yet, as the Pi*esident by his 
Proclamation of Freedom has now tapped the great artery of the 
rebellion, may it not be wise to let our armies cease their aggressive 
movements, and make strong and advantageous points, and patiently 
await the natural depletion of our inveterate foe ? When his life- 
blood has floAved out, he will be docile and easily managed. That 
is, when the wealth of the South, for which they are fighting, and 
which stands on elastic limbs, with heart and head inclined to liberty, 
shall have fled to our lines and found protection, the rebellion will 
die of itself. Hence the administration, though embarrassed and 
perplexed by traitorous schemes and influences on every hand, may, 
in this way, if no other, crush the rebellion and save the country. 

In view of the principles now established we conclude, 

1. That all of the great calamities which afiect the church and the 
world follow from small beginnings. 

2. That unless men are loyal and honest in small things, in both 
the government of God and man, they cannot be really loyal and 
honest in anything. 

3. That all the blood and treasure sacrificed to restore peace and 
order to the Church or civil government, is justly chargeable upon 
those who, by a continued compromise of radical truth, have created 
the evil. 

4. That as radical truth is the only real safe-guard against the 
final extermination of the race, it should be rigidly enforced at 
whatever cost ; for the liberty and enjoyment of a few, like Noah 
and his family in the ark, or the Waldenses and Albigenses in the 
valleys of Piedmont, is preferable to extermination. 

5. That those in our country. North and South, who are embar- 
rassing the government, denouncing the administration, and striving 
to divide and weaken our people, ai-e the enemies of God, the foe of 
man and in league with hell, and that the time has now come that 
they should be instantly reformed, or summarily exterminated and 



16 

give room for a better blood. A regard for the spiritual and tem- 
poral interests of the unnumbered millions who are yet to move upon 
this continent, and the entire world that is to be affected by Avhat 
we do, should nerve every God-fearing and patriotic heart to 
speedily accomplish this benevolent woi'k. Let the whole force of 
the national government, while yet the balance of civil power is 
sufficiently in the hands of patriots to prevent anarchy, come down 
at once as a mighty avalanche upon its enemies. Every moment's 
delay to crush some leading northern traitors is compromising truth, 
and working death to the government. The little matter of treason 
in the different States, promulgated with impunity by its leaders, is 
becoming a mighty flame. And unless the ruling power of the 
nation speedily plants its mighty engine upon some vantage ground, 
and clothes with authority some sturdy, loyal hand to direct the 
giant hose, the fire will become inextinguishable. If need be, let 
strong lines of protection for the fleeing slave be formed at the 
South at advantageous points; and the government can spare a 
hundred thousand men or more, to silence or hang the traitors of 
the North. 

Certain politicians in the free States, thrown out of power, are 
determined to regain their lost positions, or revolutionize and de- 
stroy the government. And nothing is more certain, than that these 
enemies of God and man, must either desist in their hellish crusade 
upon the regularly constituted authorities of the country, or they 
will, in the end, throw the entire nation into anai'chy and the indis- 
criminate slaughter of millions, or drive the President, who has 
supreme command of the army and navy, to the establishment of a 
military despotism. And as a military despotism for a time, until 
order can be restored, is infinitely preferable to a state of anarchy, 
he is bound by every consideration that binds him to his God and 
to his fellow man, to seize upon the last hope in time to save his 
country and prevent a greater evil. 

If the enemies of the country remain at home to pi'omulgate 
treason, and control the politics of the land, and revolutionize the 
government, while loyal men are pouring their blood upon the 
battle-field to save the country, they should understand that 
our immense armies now organized for action will, in the end, decide 
by the sword whether their traitorous work shall stand or not. 
They, having wickedly abjured and condemned an adniisistration 
constitutionally inaugurated, cannot anticipate that our armies and 



17 

the ruling power of the nation will step aside and quietly submit to 
an usurped authority, deceitfully and wickedly inaugurated. 

Men of New York — men of New Jersey — men of all States, 
who are pressing the incipient measures of revolution, in the name 
of God and humanity, pause and consider the final result of your 
present course. The moment you destroy the balance of civil 
power in this government you inaugurate, of necessity, either a mili- 
tary despotism or universal anarchy. As the persistence of the 
South in war, to destroy this government, made it a military 
necessity to issue a iiroclamation of freedom to the slaves to weaken 
their power and save the country, so yo^ir persistence in revohition- 
ary measures will inevitably result in throwing the country into a 
state of anarchy, or in compelling the chief magistrate to es- 
tablish a military despotism. You are saying, The government is 
already at an end, and the balance of civil power already lost ; but 
you intentionally litter this falsehood for political effect, and to 
hasten your work of destruction. A deep, broad and bloody sea is 
to be passed before we reach this decisive point. 

When the balance of civil power in this government is lost, your 
garments will be dyed red with human blood, and you will open 
your eyes upon a different scene from that which you now behold. 
When the balance of civil power was lost in France, the streets of 
Pai'is literally flowed with human blood. And when the balance of 
civil power is actually lost in this nation, the streets of all our principal 
cities will be literally drenched in human blood, unless prevented 
by a timely military despotism. By timely we mean before the in- 
surgents can organize, equip and drill forces for defense. Even the 
guns of New York harbor, noio turned upon the city, would hold it 
spell-bound, strengthen every loyal heart in the Empire City, and 
silence the tongue of every traitor. And for humanity's sake, we hope 
that conservatism will not spare the blow, if required, until it is too 
late. 

This war began, and has been continued, upon the conservatism 
principle of allowing the enemies of the country to make all neces- 
sary preparations for a formidable defense before they were molested. 
But the cry now comes up from a thousand widowed hearts and the 
blood of brave soldiers upon the battle-field, and calls for sudden 
vengeance upon the heads of traitors. Let every traitorous sheet 
that is denouncing the administration and preaching disloyalty be 
at once stojjped, and every advocate for revolution immediately 



18 

placed in irons. The government now has ample power to do this 
work and stay the swelling tide of treason. 

The cry against coercion, against suppression of the writ of habeas 
corpus, and against the suppression of traitorous presses, and gov- 
ernment arrests, is all of one type. Every man knows these things 
should frequently be done, and done more promptly, and to a far 
greater extent than the chief magistrate of this nation has yet done ; 
and every man but the traitor to his country will admit it. The man 
is drunk with treason who says it is unconstitutional and wrong to 
suppress such papers as the Chicago Times and imprison such editors. 
In the name of humanity, is the chief magistrate of this nation to 
be tied up by the technicalities of perverted reason, while such 
presses and such men undermine the government, and throw the 
country into anarchy ? No ! — Let every advocate of treason and 
revolutionary measures, whether in official positions or elsewhere, 
be instantly seized and thrust into the inner prison, and made fast in 
the stocks. The Constitution of this Republic actually requires the 
President to suppress this rebellion, and anything he can do that is 
adapted to accomplish this work, by preventing future evils, or do 
stroying present ones, is its literal import. While the Constitution, 
then, unconditionally requires the President to suppress and control 
the enemies of the country, these enemies should distinctly under- 
stand, that their course of conduct must necessarily measure out and 
determine the treatment they are to receive. Five innocent persons 
might better be imprisoned through mistake, than for one traitor to 
escajx? to be the means of sacriticing the lives of thousands. In this 
day when Imndreds are betraying us to our enemies, none will cry 
Persecution in view of sudden arrests, but traitors to their country? 
and the sooner they are compelled to assume their true position and 
receive their just demerit the better. 

The decisions coming out from grave and professedly loyal quar- 
ters, that the suspension of the writ of halnas corpus by the Presi- 
dent in States or districts not in open rebellion against the govern- 
ment is invalid, is a cause of the greatest possible alarm. It shoM's 
more than we were prepared to believe, that even the best men 
among us can be lulled into national security by the opiate of con- 
«ei-vatism, and rock the undying interests of this great republic in a 
cradle of gossamer over a bloody anarchy. Will these renowned 
gentlemen tell us, and tell the world, before it is too late, the ground 
of their theory? Surely, the formal susj)ension of the writ of 



19 

habeas corpus in States or districts that are in open hostility, whore 
nothing but shot and shell can either take or hold the body, can be 
of no avail. 

What, then, can tlie Constitution mean by the suspension of the 
writ of habeas corpus in times of war or invasion, but the power to 
control at any time the lurking enemies of the countiy wherever 
found ? If it has not this meaning it is, for aught we can see, but 
a dead letter, and would better be expunged from the Constitution. 
But we more than fear that even this professedly wise, kind and 
patriotic criticism is but to assert, in another form, the treasonable 
doctrine of State Sovereignty, sufficiently disguised with sympathy 
for the Administration to conceal the real intention. 

Finally, if the Cammander-in-chief of our armies has not the 
constitutional right and power to seize a traitor to his country, 
whenever and wherever found, surely he has not the necessary 
authority to prosecute advantageously the war ; and in such a case, 
even the rebel generals, with their President at their head, might 
be safely protected, for aught he could do, in any Northern State. 
If the general in command, on the morning of a mighty battle, has 
sovereign authority to control his army, aud remove all obstacles to 
his success ; and if this authority grows out of his commission, the 
necessities of the case, and the usages of war, the Commander-in- 
chief of all of our armies must have like authority in his position, 
to bind, intercej^t, or control the influences that tend to his defeat 
To deny him this, however much it may appear like military sovei*- 
eignty, is to defeat the objects of the war and iiivolve the country 
in ruin. 

War is the greatest possible calamity, and it necessarily involves 
the greatest uncertainties ; but when a nation is throwing its last 
stakes for existence, wisdom and true patriotism Avill risk all on the 
ground of right — the arm of God, and in doing Avhatever 
necessity requires to sustain and strengthen a constitutionally inau- 
gurated government. And for political leaders in a government 
already invoh-ed in war, to set in motion and agitate revolutionary 
measures, and yet claim to be friends to their country, is a specimen 
of human depravity without a parallel. Yea, for them to labor day 
and night, by every conceivable misrepresentation, with fiendish 
sagacity to convince a confiding people that arbitary arrests on sus- 
picion of treason, or of lending aid and comfort to our enemies, is 



20 

unconstitutional, that thiy may have thdr liberty to pursue their 
work of destruction, is the very gangrene of our political disease. 
Every American whoso brain has not been scaled and softened 
by conservatism, or hardened and calloused by treason, knows that 
the destiny of this country will be sealed long before the present 
Administration goes out. Hence, if we do anything to restore peace 
and save our distracted government from utter ruin, it must be done 
through the present regularly constituted authorities. Whether 
these are in every particular the wisest that could have been, or not, 
is a matter with which we at present have nothing to do. All 
human administrations are more or less imperfect, and the present 
nomoie so than others ; but let us be united and loyal, and we wiU 
emerge from this war with unstained national honor, an undi\ ided 
Republic, and unconqueredby rebels and traitors at home or their 
abettors and sympathizers abroad. Both the church and the national 
government will have learned, though at a fearful cost, the folly and 
danger of departing from radical truth. 



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